That Stupid Little L-Word:

Chapter Thirty Eight:

I storm from the room the second that the bell buzzes, announcing the end of the period. Ms. Henry presses her lips together and I hear her sigh as I cross the threshold into the hallway. I rush out the building and almost plow Blue-Eyes over as I race across the courtyard. 

He grabs me by the elbow and yanks me to a stop. "Alice? What's going on? What's wrong?" 

"Why don't you ask Ms. Henry?" I snap at him. A fresh batch of tears sting at the corners of my eyes, and I wipe at them furiously, refusing to break down into tears once again. The students that walk around us completely ignore us.

"What happened?" He insists, only this time he's a bit more forceful. 

I grind my teeth together, and spit out, "I have to go to tutoring during lunch." 

I am so pissed right now. I have absolutely no time to spend with my boyfriend now, thanks to these stupid tutoring sessions and my mother grounding me after school. Blue-Eyes presses his lips into a wrinkled line and then murmurs, "At least we still have the car ride to and from school." 

"Yeah," I say sarcastically, and roll my eyes, "A whole whopping ten minutes." 

"It's still time," Blue-Eyes says. "Do you have to go today?"

I shrug. "I don't think so. She didn't say anything about it." 

He nods and then grabs my hand. "Come on. We're going to go spend some time together." 

I grimace. "But I have gym..."

"Yeah," he says, casting me a glance from over his shoulder, "With Miley. Now come on, you've hardly skipped gym. One more time won't hurt you." 

I grumble incoherently under my breath as he leads me toward the parking lot. He opens the passenger side door to his car and I climb inside. He takes his seat behind the steering wheel and starts the engine. "Where are we going?" I ask as we race out of the parking lot. 

"Relax and enjoy the ride." He flashes me a cheeky grin and presses harder against the accelerator. "It's a surprise. You'll love it." 

I decide to ignore him. With a sigh, I rest my elbow against the side of the door and my hand cups the side of my face. I stare blankly out the window and try not to imagine what will happen when my mother sees my grades in gym. I don't feel like bothering with it right now. I'm secretly kind of glad that Blue-Eyes forced me to skip gym. I really don't want to deal with Miley, or Devon today. 

The drive stretches on for about thirty minutes, and then I watch as the car turns right into the brightly colored parking lot of our local aquarium. Aquamarine colored banners hang from every light post, depicting the cartoon octopus that acts as the aquarium's mascot, and the white lines that separated each parking spot were covered in painted bubbles. Blue-Eyes pulls into a spot and cuts the engine. 

I glance at him as I meet him in front of the car, my eyebrows furrowed. "What are we doing here?" 

Blue-Eyes shoots me a cheeky grin. "This place is awesome. They have all kinds of animals, including turtles and otters," he says as he leads me toward the door. My eyes narrow as he pays for our tickets --two small paper wrist bands that are the same color as the bright blue building-- and we step inside the ice cold lobby. I pinch his arm and he lets out a sigh. "It's also almost completely abandoned during the weekdays. So we'll have plenty of time to spend together." 

I hear the double meaning to his words. No one would be here to stop us if Blue-Eyes decided to get a little frisky. 

We walk around the multitude of exhibits. The lights are mostly dimmed, and a bunch of glass windows are set up along the walls, an abundance of sea life swimming around behind them. Blue-Eyes was right; the building was almost completely empty, save for a few aquarium workers and a school group of about twenty something children. I make Blue-Eyes take me around to each exhibit. I refuse to allow this trip just a sexual encounter. I'm not exactly in the mood for anything like that right now.